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Here the thermometer at the visitor center in Death Valley still shows 134 degrees Fahrenheit, i.e. 56 degrees Celsius, a little later even a little more was measured
Photo: John Locher / AP
Two mountain ranges, some more than 3000 meters high, border the valley of death.
The sun burns out of the cloudless sky and relentlessly heats the area in between.
Extreme temperatures are measured again and again in Death Valley in the US state of California.
At the weekend, however, a new record may have been set: On Sunday afternoon, local time, the thermometer at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center showed 134 degrees Fahrenheit, i.e. 56.7 degrees Celsius.
The measurement has not yet been officially confirmed.
It is possible that it will be revised downwards minimally.
In any case, it is one of the highest temperatures ever measured on earth.
The US weather service, which is responsible for the official temperature determination, measured 130 degrees Fahrenheit or 54.4 degrees Celsius in the region on Saturday.
Even that, if confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) - together with a measurement from last August that has yet to be validated - would be at least the third highest known temperature value of all time.
There are also measurements in places one and two of the ranking list (1st place: Death Valley, July 10, 1913, 56.7 degrees Celsius, 2nd place: Kebili in Tunisia, July 7, 1931, 55.0 degrees Celsius) Doubt.
In the coming days, too, the temperatures in Death Valley should be in the range of possible records.
The extreme temperatures do not only affect the desert valley, in which one is used to them in principle.
The country's weather service has issued some dramatic heat warnings for around 30 million people in the western United States.
Meteorologists are now even predicting the next round of extreme temperatures.
They are concerned that the nights should also stay particularly warm - this increases the effect: "People are not able to cool off, it is much more difficult to get relief," says Sarah Rogowski from the National Weather Service.
The heat has been like a bell over the region for some time.
A quick study by the World Weather Attribution Group, in which 27 researchers from Princeton University, the University of Oxford, ETH Zurich, Columbia University and the German Meteorological Service were involved, suggests that the heat wave in America without climate change would be "almost impossible".
Several major forest fires are raging
The region is also threatened with severe thunderstorms - and in turn forest fires such as those currently raging near Lake Tahoe.
The fires probably broke out after lightning strikes on Friday.
There are also problems with forest fires in the state of Oregon.
At least 580 square kilometers are affected here.
In California, people were urged to save electricity and water so as not to overload the public utility networks.
The situation in the power grid is also tense because the forest fire in Oregon is in the immediate vicinity of a high-voltage road that actually supplies California.
Around 1,000 firefighters are deployed there alone.
In the state of Arizona, two people died when an aircraft used to monitor forest fires crashed near Phoenix on Saturday.
The background is still being investigated.
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